Farid
Basharat answered a lot of questions regarding his status as a
future contender in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division.
Repeated takedowns, time-consuming clinches and superior activity
in the standup exchanges carried the undefeated
Xtreme Couture standout to a unanimous decision over former TKO
Major League MMA champion Taylor
Lapilus in a featured
UFC Fight Night 234 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 30-27 for
Basharat (12-0, 3-0 UFC).
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Lapilus (19-4, 4-2 UFC), who suffered his first setback in almost
2,000 days, was a difficult nut to crack but had no real answer for
his adversary’s relentless tenacity. Basharat pursued takedowns in
all three rounds, even as many of them were negated, and kept his
foot on the accelerator for 15 minutes. He ducked into a takedown
behind an overhand right in the third round, set up in side control
and eventually threatened the Frenchman with an anaconda choke. The
resourceful Lapilus survived, but the fight had long since been
lost.
Meanwhile, Elevate MMA product Preston
Parsons leaned into a deeper gas tank and better all-terrain
skills, as he laid claim to a unanimous decision over Matthew
Semelsberger in a three-round welterweight scrap. Parsons
(11-4, 2-2 UFC) swept the scorecards with matching 30-27 marks from
all three members of the cageside judiciary.
A short-notice fill-in for Bassil
Hafez, Semelsberger (11-7, 5-5 UFC) never got in gear. Parsons
bested him with striking output in the first round, then opened a
cut near his right eye with an elbow strike and threatened him with
an armbar in the second. An exhausted Semelsberger had little
recourse available to him in Round 3. Parsons struck for a
takedown, framed a kimura and ultimately climbed to full mount
before making a final pass at an arm-triangle.
Semelsberger has now suffered three straight defeats.
Further down the undercard, MMA Lab’s Marcus
McGhee wiped out Bellator MMA veteran Gaston
Bolanos with punches in the second round of their bantamweight
encounter.
Bolanos (7-4, 1-1 UFC) met his end 3:29 into Round
2.
McGhee (9-1, 3-0 UFC) nearly finished it in the first round, where
he battered the Combat Sports Academy product with power punches to
the body and head, followed a clean right hook into a takedown and
piled on the punishment with ferocious ground-and-pound. Bolanos’
situation only deteriorated from there. McGhee dropped him with a
right hook in the middle stanza, allowed him to stand, gave chase
with a glancing wheel kick and prompted a standing stoppage with a
crackling left hook.
The 33-year-old McGhee will ride a five-fight winning streak into
his next assignment.
Not to be upstaged, Fighting Nerds prospect Jean Silva
filled in as a short-notice substitution for Gabriel
Santos and disposed of a woefully overmatched Westin
Wilson with punches in the first round of their featherweight
clash.
Wilson (16-9, 0-2 UFC) bowed out 4:12 into Round
1.
The explosive Silva (12-2, 1-0 UFC) connected with power punches
from both hands and forced his opponent into survival mode from the
start. He decked the 6-foot-1 Wilson with a left hook-straight
right, kept him in a state of retreat, trapped him along the fence
and prompted the stoppage with a flurry of uppercuts.
The 27-year-old Silva has won nine fights in a row, eight of them
finishes.
Elsewhere, Xtreme Couture’s Nikolas
Motta took care of previously unbeaten 2023 Dana White’s
Contender Series graduate Tom Nolan
with unanswered punches in the first round of their lightweight
affair.
The 23-year-old Nolan (6-1, 0-1 UFC) succumbed to blows 63 seconds
into Round 1.
Motta (14-5, 2-2 UFC) stayed calm under considerable fire—his
Australian counterpart tried to blow out his base with kicks—and
waited for the opportune time to unleash his hands. He sat down
Nolan with a concussive two-punch burst, forced the Team Compton
Training Centre export to all fours and continued to smash him with
punches until referee Dan Miragliotta had seen enough.
The win was Motta’s first since Sept. 17, 2022.
Finally, former Fury Fighting Championship titleholder Joshua Van
stepped in as a short-notice replacement for Denys
Bondar and put away Felipe
Bunes with punches in the second round of their flyweight
pairing.
Van (10-1, 3-0 UFC) closed it out 4:31 into Round
2.
Bunes (13-7, 0-1 UFC) maximized his four-inch reach advantage
throughout the first round, as he peppered the Myanmar native with
low kicks, clean one-twos and occasional knees up the middle. He
struck for a takedown late in the period and eventually climbed to
full mount before the horn sounded. From there, Bunes ran out of
steam. Van broke down the Brazilian with pressure and persistence,
unleashing hellacious punching combinations to the head and body.
He floored Bunes with a right hook at close range, assumed a
dominant position and cut loose with ground-and-pound until the job
was done.
Van, 22, has rattled off eight consecutive victories.